In May 2020, a team led by thoracic surgeon Konrad Hoetzenecker of the Department of Surgery of MedUni Vienna and Vienna General Hospital performed a lung transplant on a 44-year-old patient who had been seriously ill with Covid-19, making her the first patient in Europe to receive a lung transplant for this indication.

The Vienna lung transplantation programme now plays a leading role in an international consortium comprising experts from the USA, Europe and Asia.

Based on the expertise from Vienna, approximately 40 transplants have now been carried out on Covid-19 patients throughout the world.

In a study published in the leading journal “The Lancet Respiratory Medicine”, the consortium has now proposed the first general selection criteria for lung transplantation in Covid-19 patients.

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